VALDOSTA – After finding an initial friendship through jewelry making, the two best friends, Robyn Broyles and Chloe Schartle, established Wildchild Jewelry.

In June, they started the Instagram account, Wildchild.beads, to function as a website. They hope to eventually set up a booth at Downtown’s Makers Market, but in the meantime, they hold yard sales to showcase their work.

Their first sale was July 24, and they plan to hold a sale once a week at 400 River St. Schartle said they are still figuring out what pieces people like the most to know where to focus their production.

They said the two items that were surprisingly popular are their rings and waistbeads. Schartle said they also try to keep their jewelry at a reasonable price with most being less than $20.

While a lot of the jewelry is made ahead of time, they will make jewelry on the spot at the sales as well. Broyles said one customer wanted matching necklaces for him and his daughter. They found a necklace they liked and Broyles made another necklace to match for them to take home that day.

With the first sale, Schartle said about half of their stock was sold but any chance they get they are making more jewelry.

“We both work a lot and we are in school so it’s literally whenever we can,” Schartle said.

When they are not jewelry making, they are students at Wiregrass Georgia Technical College, and both are studying cosmetology.

However, they originally met as coworkers at Tropical Smoothie and then became close friends. Schartle grew up making jewelry as a pastime. After introducing Broyles to it, jewelry making became a common activity for them to do together. They said, at the time, they never thought it would become a side business.

“We were making a lot of jewelry before we started selling,” Broyles said. “We were just making a stock without even thinking about it.”

Going forward, they said they would like to do some collections as well as beach-themed pieces and matching BFF pieces.

“We have these two peace sign necklaces we always wear,” Schartle said. “They are our friendship necklaces. We wear these every day and this is how people started noticing (our jewelry) because people would say they like our necklaces. So, we started making more.”

Broyles said wearing their own jewelry and people starting up conversations with them about it is how they originally started to get the word out. They thrive for whimsical and colorful, beaded pieces while also incorporating trends in their work, she said.

They often go bead shopping together and Broyles said they will share beads a lot of the time because they wind up liking similar styles.

However, they have different approaches to jewelry making, Schartle said she gravitates toward random designs while Broyles prefers to create pattern designs. This gives more variety to their jewelry, Schartle said.

After the two graduate, Schartle said they want to continue to take their passion for jewelry making with them and share their work with others.

“We basically try to make cute stuff still for a good price,” Schartle said.